Artist of the Week: Cook Classics.

Step inside the lab with up and coming L.A. producer, and the man behind the VIMBY New Classics mixtape, Cook Classics. This dude has heatrocks for real. He stays on his grind, and is truly one of the hardest working cats in LA right now. He's really making a name for himself as one of the freshest and most talented producers in the game. He's worked with acts like Pac Div, U-N-I, Inverse, Shawn Jackson, and even Diamond D. He was even kind enough to invite us to the secret location that is the Beat Locker for this interview. What up, Cook.

Check the interview to get to know him, then check his myspace page.

Alchemist Talks Production.

ALC sits down with XLR8R TV to talk about his approach to beat making, where he draws his inspiration from, and how a little white dude from Beverly Hills got tight with Mobb Deep. This dude is one of my favorite beat makers as of late. i won't front. His beats are fairly basic (no shot), but there's an aura about them. A vibe that grabs you. His beats are majestic.

The Making of El Prez's "Hammerman"

You've heard the song. You've seen the live performance. Now watch how the beat was made. Produced by ChexMex. I'm not mad at his Running Man, either.

Shout out to DJRayz for the heads up.

Dibiase x Haircut SOUNDCLASH

This is where I was last night. Echo Park. The Root Down. Little Temple. Dibiase. DJ Haircut. Soundclash. Dibiase and Haircut go beat for beat at the Root Down's 5th annual Soundclash. Diabese dressed like a ninja and came with that raw shit. Haircut dressed like a funky insurance salesman and came with that clean shit. So who won? The people in attendance, that's who.

9th Wonder Talks Production.

9th talks about his sound, using Pro Tools and the importance of good monitors. That reminds me, I need a speaker upgrade. Not now, but right now.

Live Beatmaking with 9th Wonder.

This is highly dope. I love how 9th has no idea what song he's flipping, and can't stop asking for the name. You know he's going back into the lab to make this song a reality. *Patiently awaits*

[INTERVIEW] David Banner

Here's Part 2 of our David Banner interview. Here the rapper/producer/actor talks about his upcoming album, his production style, and life after hip-hop. This cat is a great interview...he's very insightful and well articulated. And the homie Nas calls him one of the great new leaders.

In you missed Part 1 of this interview, catch up.

After the video I got some bonus downloads for ya, a couple of cuts of his upcoming album.



**BONUS**

DOWNLOAD: David Banner - "Shawty Say" (feat. Lil Wayne)
DOWNLOAD: David Banner - "Suicide Doors" (feat. UGK & Kandi)

Pete Rock on Karmaloop TV

One of my favorite producers chops it up with one of my favorite places to do online shopping. That's no coincidence.

Artist of the Week: 9th Wonder

Let me give you a little back story on this interview. I was excited to interview 9th, he's one of my favorite producers from the "New Era" (post 1997). Along with cats like Madlib, Just Blaze, and the Alchemist, he's been carrying the torch for the new generation, but Dilla is still #1 from this group. Anyways, I went to meet 9th at the luxurious Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles for the interview. This was supposed to be a 2 camera shoot, however the MAIN camera, the one the we had 9th's mic plugged into had other plans. Unbeknownst to us, the camera -- a Panasonic HVX, which records on P2 memory cards, not tape -- wasn't recording. The red light was on, and the numbers were moving, but the memory card was empty at the end of the day. Fuck.

Needless to say, this turned into a one camera shoot, and the audio is being picked up from the on-board camera mic, rather than the snazzy lav mic we place on 9th jacket to pick up the clean audio. Oh well, long story long, we still got the interview. Besides, this is the internet. You guys don't care about quality, you'll watch footage of Britney's va-jay jay on a shaky camera phone.

Peep the interview below. Hip-Hop's favorite producer 9th Wonder shines bright in the spotlight this week as talks about his time with Little Brother and working with Jay-Z. The North Cak-A-Laka beat maker has a new album on the way as well called The Wonder Years. So be sure to check for that...